Guests from China

 

During our Winter Break in February we were thrilled to have Tim's brother, Alan, and Tricia spend a week with us.  They have been living in Shenyang, China for a year and were happy to leave the snow behind and experience a desert vacation. We had a wonderful time seeing the local sights, tasting the local foods, sharing the Arab culture, and chatting about China.  We are looking forward to our trip to visit them!

It seems that we spent a lot of time eating..... It is so much fun to eat Middle Eastern food.  Usually there are large platters of food set in the middle of the table and everyone uses Arabic bread to scoop out the hummus, olive salad, labneh, baba ganouche and chicken tikka.  We ate dates on a regular basis and had fresh Arabic bread (pita) with every meal.

A new experience for us was to go fishing on the Gulf.  We hired a beautiful boat to take us on a 4 hour tour.  Unfortunately, the day we went out was the end of a three day sand storm. The day was gorgeous in port but the wind was still high and the swells were 8 feet when we left the shelter of the Corniche.  Lisa became very seasick (despite Gravol) so the actual fishing time lasted a mere 30 minutes.  However, we took advantage of having a luxurious boat for the afternoon, and spent time cruising gently in the calmer waters.  We stopped at a sand bar for a swim and a stroll, gawked at the mansions on the Pearl (that you can't see from the shore), and lingered over our well-packed lunch.

Tim and Alan spent a night in the desert  with 80 other men. This was a Desert Retreat that featured dune-bashing, wonderful food, and big tents that make the experience very comfortable. Thankfully the sand-storm had long passed, but the wind off the water at the Inland Sea made for a chilly night.

Another first for us was to visit the Sheikh Faisal Museum.  This is a private collection of ..... stuff.  The man has gathered door frames, artwork, cars, weapons, manuscripts, fossils, Islamic art, etc from all over the world.  It was a most unusual collection.  Some of us appreciated the eccentricity more than others.

 

Our time in the city included trips to the Museum of Islamic Art, several visits to the Souk Waqif, the Mathaf Museum of Modern Art, Go-Karting, walking along the Corniche, shopping at Villagio Mall,  and, of course, hanging out at the pool and Clubhouse.